Can Australia’s political centre hold off the populist embers being set ablaze by Trump?
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Donald Trump is unlike any politician Australia has ever seen. But could a demagogue in his image emerge?. At midday on Monday in Washington DC, Donald J Trump will finish the oath of office committing to “preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States”. His political resurrection will be complete.
![[How the night of Trump's presidential comeback unfolded – video timeline]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/be58e8b233b88936d27479e6c9df9f267df7ecb2/0_0_1920_1080/1920.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The paradox of his promise to defend the constitution will be starkly apparent. At that moment, Trump will be standing in front of the US Capitol, the very same building to which, in 2021, he incited a violent mob, equipped with a gallows to hang the vice-president, urging them to “fight like hell”, and overturn a free and fair election.
![[Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese at the White House in 2023]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6bc7358a182cfd3685dc7314619ab116de493def/1157_1215_6690_4016/master/6690.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Trump, in his open contempt for democratic convention, is unlike any politician ever seen in Australia. He is not a popular figure in Australia. An Essential Poll before the US election found only 29% of Australians would vote for him as candidate for president.
![[Australian prime minister Scott Morrison and US president Donald Trump at the White House in 2019]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0d3382cbd0d602e4fb0543e8d923030c8e677a25/0_0_1968_1312/master/1968.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
But the man who will be president again taps into and exploits a deep vein of disaffection across the US, and a rising tide of populism around the world, one that is rising in Australia too. Could a politician in his likeness, a Trumpian character, emerge in Australian politics, an iconoclast who defies convention and smashes those mores previously held to be unshakeable?.
![[Australian opposition leader Peter Dutton at a Liberal party campaign rally in Melbourne in January]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/4901077870e1d5e14fcd7234f222f05238d691dd/0_0_5000_3335/master/5000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
